Pastoral Leadership: Shepherding and Caring for God’s People

Discover how pastoral leadership and pastoral care are one in the same thing with Rev. Dr. Jamison J. Hardy. With more than 20 years of experience, he helps you find ways to push forward and away from the basics of the Office of the Holy Ministry toward phenomenal leadership. Go beyond the day-to-day tasks and find yourself becoming an engaged and active participant in your church to guide your congregation forward.

Use personal reflection tools to see how you currently lead as a pastor and new ways that you can improve. Each chapter includes these questions to help you identify with biblical figures, your everyday life, personal pains, areas of growth, and goals for the future.

Praise for Pastoral Leadership:

“The most important aspect of Reverend Hardy’s insightful book is that he recognizes upfront that pastors are leaders and to be truly effective, must embrace and implement principles of leadership in their ministry. As a former parish pastor, student of leadership, and District President, Reverend Hardy provides a unique perspective as to how leadership principles are at the forefront of one’s pastoral vocation. He expertly describes how a pastor who embraces his role as a leader will have a more significant impact on his congregants and community then those who do not. . . I highly recommend this book to all pastors, seminarians, congregational lay leaders, and those prayerfully discerning whether the Office of Ministry is their calling. ”

—Kurt Senke, author of The CEO and the Board: The Art of Nonprofit Governance as a Competitive Advantage

“Any pastor genuinely concerned for faithfulness in his calling will glean not only a deeper understanding of the fertile terms that define his vocation but will discover insights that reveal the unique standing a pastor has as both under shepherd and sheep to the one true God who has an intense burden of love for His flock. But this isn’t just happening on Sunday morning. It extends into the parish’s daily life through humble but confident leadership. It happens during budget meetings. It happens during casual conversation. If only to receive and then practice this insight inherent to Hardy’s book, the reader—and the ones served—will be blessed.”

—Rev. Christopher I. Thoma, Senior Pastor of Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church and School, Hartland, Michigan, author of Ten Ways to Kill a Pastor, The Cruciform Way (Volumes 1 & 2), and The Angels’ Portion (Volumes 1 through 4), Executive Director of The Body of Christ and the Public Square

“This book is a mature and winsome exploration of what life in the ministry looks like when God humbles His broken servants under spiritual attacks to sharpen them in the practice of faithful and effective spiritual care. Dr. Hardy draws powerful lessons from biblical narratives depicting leadership mishaps and blessings, and from his own pastoral ministry in the school of the Spirit we call the church. . . Highly recommended!”

—Rev. Dr. Leopoldo A. Sánchez M., Professor of Systematic Theology, Director of the Center for Hispanic Studies, Werner R.H. Krause Professor of Hispanic Ministries, Concordia Seminary